Bear

As much as i enjoyed seeing Mark Webbers drive from 18th in China, and Lewis' good strategy to save his tyres, there is now the possibility of this tactical move, not to come 18th, but to save tyres in quali, on a regular basis.

I don't 'think' this is what anyone wants. Driving from the back is one thing, but putting the car there on purpose is quite another and begins to undermine the weekend setup.

This article highlighted by Brogan, posted today by Ian Parkes and using CTA's data raises the same point.

If this has already been suggested then i apologise: We suggested in this thread that an extra set of tyres for FP1 would encourage more running, the very next day it was announced Pirelli would supply such, following the tyre development agreement worked out with Pirelli, the teams and the FIA prior to the season start.

Is there a possibility that the Q2 runners have an extra set of tyres, of their choice, with one set being handed back at the end of the session, then the Q3 runners again getting one extra set, with one set again to be handed back after the session? This would avoid the 'disadvantage' of having to use more sets of tyres the better you do in qualifying, avoid the tactic of sandbagging quali, and not allow any one person more tyres to choose from in the race. I won't get into the top ten start on the tyres used to set their fastest lap yet...

🦶 Leg end

Sadly it would seem my fears, which I first raised last season once we were aware of the restrictions, have been confirmed.

I really hope the FIA review this situation and allow for an extra few sets otherwise qualifying sessions are going to lose all the excitement they had last season.
How many times in 2010 did we see the pole position swapping between drivers right up until the final second?
Now, both Red Bull drivers are out of their cars before the end of Q3 and some drivers don't even bother going out for a single run.

Banned

There have absolutely been some thrilling Quali sessions over the last couple years, but quite often that became the highlight of the weekend.

If Red Bull want to go out right away in Q3, set a time, and then have a sandwich, I'm all for it. If they (Vettel) can set the pole position time in this manner, it speaks to the dominance of the car more than the negative aspects of the tire regulations.